Woncheon Lake : just like heaven :)

Today is a day after Chuseok (चुसक) which is a major festival in Korea. This festival is actually related to the harvest time (फसल कटई) in old days of farming.

Today we went to Woncheon Lake which is 1.5 or 2 km from our home.

This lake - which was a secluded place a few years ago - has become a major tourist attraction after development of park and apartment complexes in the vicinity.

Above is first shot from my camera : the shot was in direction opposite of lake. It shows the cloudy day, which was sunny also.


The below is the shot of the lake and children playing at water pool at 4:30 pm today

Coffee shops next to lake were buzzing with customers.

Below is view of sky and apartments behind coffee shop line.

Below are some other nature shots

Below is apartment building under construction next to the lake. If you look carefully, you can see a bird and a plane flying in the sky.

This area felt like a heaven probably because light rays of setting sun made everything look beautiful.

Below shots are from the side of lake opposite to coffee shop line. 

Wow. the greenery !

It is exercise time for some.

The sun is setting behind the cloud.

 Golden lights of setting sun which are falling on below apartment buildings.

In the night

Suwon (수원,सुवॅन,水原) : Introducing a Korean City (Part 1)

Suwon (水原) is a city approx 50km south-east of Seoul (the capital of Korea).

Head-quarter of Samsung Electronics is in in this city since it started in 1969 here.

(  Samsung - 三星 - means three star in Korean-Chinese)

सुवॅन (水原) कोरिया के केपिटल सउल से 50km साऊथ-ईस्ट में बसा शहर है |

सामसँग इलेक्ट्रॉनिक कंपनी का हेड-क्वार्टर इसी शहर में है |

(सामसँग - 三星 - चीनी-कोरियन शब्द है , जिसका मतलब है : तीन तारा )

Year 1969: Samsung Electronics complex surrounded by agriculture land.
Right-hand (east) side area is known as Yeong-Tong (영통, यंग-थोंग),
left (west) side area is known as Maetan-Dong (매탄-동, मेथान-दोंग).
top upper (north) side area is Woncheon lake site.

But above scene is of 1969. Suwon city is developing and expanding rapidly since the days Samsung Electronics became a major player in world market.

ऊपर की फोटो 1969 की है| सामसँग इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स के  बड़ी कंपनी बनने के बाद से यह शहर बड़ी तेजी से बढ़ और फ़ैल रहा है |

a view of Maetan-Dong area , starting 500m left  from above complex.

Another view of Maetan-Dong (मेथान-दोंग) area : this view covers distance 0.5 km to 1.5 km in left of above Samsung Complex

A view of Samsung Electronics complex (and beyond YeongTong) itself from left Maetan-Dong side :
This complex lies behind the road visible in the photo. The two buildings on top-left corner of photo are high-rise (named R3 and R4) buildings of Samsung Electronics. 

Maetan-3-Dong area ,'R3 building ' is visible at end of road.

Shops of Maetan-3-Dong area

Agriculture lands of Suwon are fast converting into high-rise buildings.

सुवन के खेत तेजी से 20-25 मंजिले बिल्डिंगों में बदलते जा रहे हैं |

A view from Gwonseon-Dong . High-rise building R3 and R4 of Samsung Eletronics complex are visible on right center of photo. 

This road-link to Dongtan (दोंगथान) did not exist 7 years ago

8 years ago, the 3 km long road stretch from Mangpo station (of YeongTong) to Suwon Bus Terminal (and then to Suwon Railway Station) had only fields and almost no building on left-hand side of road.

8 साल पहले इस शहर के (यंग-थोंग के) मांगपो मेट्रो स्टेशन से सुवन बस टर्मिनल तक की सड़क (जो आगे सुवन रेलवे स्टेशन पहुँचती है ) के बाएँ तरफ  सिर्फ खेत दीखते थे |

 road from Mangpo station of YeongTong to Suwon Bus Terminal: left side of road was full of agriculture lands 8 years ago

The tall buildings seen lying in the fields are under construction : some are complete, others are

Below is the railway-station of Suwon.

नीचे सुवन का रेलवे स्टेशन है : कोरियन रेलवे स्टेशन को यॅक (역) बोलते हैं |

The traffic circle in front of Suwon Railway Station.
Paldal-mun area is behind the hill.

Woncheon Lake: These amazing lightings and buildings came into existence only two years ago.  

Jangan-Mun, जांगान दरवाज़ा (長安門) ,  the Suwon city was bounded by these gates and walls in old days (since 1800 AD).

in progress.

in progress

Trip to Jeju Miniature Park, Halasan Mountain, and ....

It was Saturday 3rd May 2014, the third day of our stay in Seogwipo town of Jeju island, ,Korea. We started at 9 am in the morning with plan to go to Hala-san (हला-सान, 한라산 ) mountain first.

Starting from Seogwipo town on car

Hala-san (हला-सान) is a volcano (ज्वालामुखी) and is the most famous tourist place in Jeju island. 

San (सान) in 'Hala-san' is a Korean word for mountain. 

On road of Seogwipo town, 8:50 AM

The road goes to start of Seongpanak trail which goes to the top of Hala-san,  9 AM

'Fluid lava flows' some 20 lakh years ago on top of sea-floor (100m below the sea-level) created  Jeju island and Hala-mountain in middle of it.  Our goal was to reach the below crater at end of the day.

Our goal was to reach this crater by walking some 10 km on Seongpanak trail 

The last volcanic eruption in Hala-mountain happened a thousand years ago, in days of Mahmud of Gazni (known in India for his plunders).

We reached at the start of Seogpanak trail at around 9:40 am, which has below facility for the people going for trekking. We parked our car there.

Facility at start of Seongpanak (성판악) trail, 9:30 AM

Start of Seongpanak (성판악) trail, 9:40 AM

1.5 km of Seongpanak (성판악) trail, 10 AM

In background, there is a single-line rail-track, and a vehicle on top of it carrying food-items for sale, up along with trek

some water stream in background, 성판악 trail, 10:15 AM

10:20 AM, 성판악 trail, volcanic rocks of Jeju

After 3.1 Km of trekking,  성판악 trail, 10:45 AM

After 4.1 Km of trekking, at Sokbat shelter in 성판악 trail, 11 AM

After looking at trail map, we decided that it would be better for us to return because trail would increase in difficulty.

We returned back from Sokbat shelter, 11:15 AM

Somewhere while returning on 성판악 trail, 11:40 AM

Back to start-point of 성판악 trail, 12:00 PM

After returning back to start-point of 성판악 trail,  we prepared noodles and had lunch, and waited for our friends to join us. 

After rest, we left this place at around 2:30 PM with plan to go to Jeju Miniature Park.  We found below observation point on the way, and stopped to click some photos.

At observation point, near Seongpanak, 2:40 PM

 We also saw a horse-farm on the way, and stopped there as well to click photos.

Horse-farm, near Seongpanak, 2:47 PM

Road near horse-farm, near Seongpanak, 2:50 PM

With Gulliver, in Jeju miniature park, 3 PM

in Jeju miniature park

Replica of Osaka castle of 1600 AD, made of stones and wood.

Replica of memorial in Taipei in memory of Chiang Kai-shek

Replica of 600 years old Forbidden City , home of emperors of Beijing, China

Replica of 800 years old temple in Angkor Thom , Combodia dedicated to Buddha and built by Mahayan buddhist king Jayavarman VII

Replica of 4500 years old 60 feet high statue of Sphinx, a mythical beast in Giza of Egypt, Africa.

Replica of 800 years old Vishnu temple of Angkor Wat , Combodia built by Khmer king Suryavarman II

Replica of 2300 year old temple built by Askoka and later restored by British, dedicated to Buddha at site 100 km from Patna, Bihar, India

Replica of statue in New York,  symbolizing freedom with broken chain at feet.

The Thinker

The Thinker is the bronze sculpture created by Auguste Rodin to represent philosophy.

With Gandhi

Statue of Sakya-muni Buddha